IP: Make or Buy?

IP: Make or Buy?
by Paul McLellan on 07-30-2013 at 2:02 pm

A couple of weekends ago I moderated a panel session for the Chinese American Semiconductor Professional Association. No, I had no idea such an organization existed either (at least partially because I’m not Chinese). Dan Nenni was meant to be doing it but he went off to Las Vegas, so I ended up getting the job. On a Saturday … Read More


♫ IMG Sitting on the DOK of the Bay…Closin’ Timin’

♫ IMG Sitting on the DOK of the Bay…Closin’ Timin’
by Paul McLellan on 07-24-2013 at 7:00 am

Scott Fitzgerald is supposed to have said “the rich are not like other people” to Ernest Hemingway (he didn’t). In the same way, processors are not like other blocks, and not because they have more gates (they don’t). However, special approaches to optimizing processors are important because the clock… Read More


“NoC, NoC” – Are You Listening to nVidia’s Dally?

“NoC, NoC” – Are You Listening to nVidia’s Dally?
by Randy Smith on 07-18-2013 at 11:00 pm

Recently Bill Dally, nVidia’s Chief Scientist & SVP of Research, and a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Stanford University, has been out speaking quite a bit including a “short keynote” at the Design Automation Conference and a keynote at ISC 2013. The DAC audience is primarily EDA tool users and… Read More


Configurable System IP from a Tool Provider

Configurable System IP from a Tool Provider
by Randy Smith on 07-18-2013 at 11:00 pm

While I have previously blogged on Forte’s Cynthesizer Workbench’s Interface Generator, I want to take another look from a different perspective. Watching the tool and IP together in action through public videos provided by Forte it struck me as odd what I did not consider earlier, on what should have been obvious to me – Forte is… Read More


MIPS Warrior Goes Into Battle

MIPS Warrior Goes Into Battle
by Paul McLellan on 06-26-2013 at 7:00 am

You are probably aware that Imagination Technologies, perhaps most well known for creating the GPU that is in the iPhone and iPad, acquired MIPS, which was originally a spinout from Silicon Graphics and licenses a line of general purpose microprocessors.

MIPS considers that they have a purer implementation of the RISC philosophy… Read More


Should You Buy All Aspects of Your IP From a Single Supplier?

Should You Buy All Aspects of Your IP From a Single Supplier?
by Paul McLellan on 06-16-2013 at 9:18 am

Interface IP typically consists of multiple layers, most importantly a PHY (level 1) analog (or mixed signal) block that handles the interface to the outside world and a number of levels of digital controllers. The interfaces between all these levels, especially between the PHY and the controller, is often defined by the interface… Read More


DAC IP Workshop: Are You Ready For Quality Control?

DAC IP Workshop: Are You Ready For Quality Control?
by Paul McLellan on 06-07-2013 at 3:08 am

On Sunday I attended an IP workshop which was presented by TSMC, Atrenta, Sonics and IPextreme. It turns out that the leitmotiv of the afternoon was SpyGlass.

Dan Kochpatcharin of TSMC was first up and gave a little bit of history of the company. They built up their capacity over the years, as I’ve written about before, and last… Read More


ARM: AMBA 5, Cortex-A12, Mali, video, POP…

ARM: AMBA 5, Cortex-A12, Mali, video, POP…
by Paul McLellan on 06-06-2013 at 4:39 pm

ARM announced several new products at DAC in a number of different spaces. In addition I got invited to a briefing with Simon Segars, 30 days from when he takes over as CEO of ARM. I asked Simon if he expected to make any major changes and he basically said ‘no’. ARM’s basic strategy in both mobile and now enterprise… Read More


Heart of Technology Heads to DAC in Austin

Heart of Technology Heads to DAC in Austin
by Randy Smith on 05-25-2013 at 2:45 pm

With the support of the Heart of Technology, one of the big events this year at DAC will be the Kickin’ It Up in Austin celebration on June 3, at the amazing, world famous Austin City Limits Live! The event starts at 8:00 PM, runs until 1:00 AM and features three bands – 9-time Grammy winner Asleep at the Wheel; Vista Roads, an industry… Read More


Sonics-ARM Form A Potent IP Combination

Sonics-ARM Form A Potent IP Combination
by Randy Smith on 05-13-2013 at 1:30 pm

Recently, Sonics and ARM entered into an agreement whereby ARM licensed a significant portion of Sonics’ patent portfolio. Sonics, Inc. is one of the leading providers of connectivity IP often referred to as network-on-chip, or NoC. ARM is the leading provider of processor intellectual property (IP). The potential scope… Read More